Your Attitude

"I feel I have 0% control over getting cancer, but 100% control over how I will respond..."

-- Kay Yow, North Carolina State University women's basketball coach

Kay Yow made made an incredibly inspiring presentation when she received an award on the recent ESPY Awards show.

What inspired me so much about her acceptance speech and her story is the way in which Coach Yow has approached this bout with cancer - her third go-around with the awful disease. After three battles with cancer and all of the treatment that goes along with the disease I'm sure you'd agree that it would be natural for anyone to wallow in pity and have a "why me?" attitude. And yet she views this latest round as an opportunity to teach and coach her players and assistant coaches about the value of attitude - whether a positive or negative attitude.

(Click here and then click on the "256" link just above her picture to view the presentation.)

Are you facing a significant challenge right now in business, career or life? Are you focused on what you CAN do about the challenge or on what has HAPPENED to you? I believe it is quite natural for us to focus on the challenge and the results of the challenge - but people like Coach Yow show us that we can only make the turn for the better when we focus on what we can actually control and not allow "head space" to be consumed with stuff that is out of our control or in the past.

As with Coach Yow, the impact of facing challenges head-on with the right attitude not only affects you - it has quite the impact on those who are watching you.

Reflect on Coach Yow's quote above. Are you controlling how you respond to your challenges - or are you letting the challenge control you...?